Montesquieu

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Montesquieu
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Biography

• Montesquieu was a French political thinker. He
  lived during the Enlightenment, the period that
  people started asking why. By that time, England
  met the Glorious Revolution. James II of England
  was overthrow by the parliament to form the
  Kingdom of Great Britain. In 1715 the Sun King,
  Louis XIV died. He was inherited by mostly weak
  and feeble kings. These transformations greatly
  impacted Montesquieu. He referred to them
  repeatedly in his work.

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Important works

• He was extremely support the theory of
  separation of powers.
• He coined Checks and
  Balances.
• He wrote The Spirit of the Laws.

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The separation of powers
judicial
executive
legislative
courts
president
parliament and congress
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Checks and balances
This system was built so that no branch of
government could become too powerful.
Checks mean each branch responsible for monitor
others.
Balances mean ability of each branch to use it
power to limits others power.
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literature
His first success publication is Persian
Letters. It referred to the senselessness of
contemporary society. It brought him famous. His
master work is The Spirit of the Laws. It
referred to political theory. He suggested that
the governing power should be dividing to three
branches. At first, it was published anonymously.
The Spirit of the Laws had highly influence. He
gained great acceptance in Europe, especially
Britain, except in France. The Roman Catholic
Church banned Montesquieus works.
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• Montesquieu was famous in British as a champion
  of British liberty, Montesquieu remained a
  powerful influence on many of the American
  founders, most remarkably, James Madison of
  Virginia, the "Father of the Constitution."
  Montesquieu's belief that "government should be
  set up so that no man need be afraid of another"
  influenced Madison and others to form the
  government that use the theory of separation of
  power.

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• Nowadays, no democratic system is absolute
  separation of powers or an absolute no separation
  of powers. Constitutions with separation of
  powers is found worldwide, particularly in
  America, which is the first system that mix
  constitutions with separation of powers.
  Separation of powers systems is almost always
  presidential except for Switzerland, which run by
  a seven-man executive branch of state called the
  Federal Council.